It’s Zoriah, But it is not Zoriah

I just received the following post from one of my favorite, passionate, compassionate, talented photojournalists, ZORIAH MILLER.. Imagine a play written about you and your work. Read this post then check out Zoriah’s work. And if you are in London get yourself a ticket to this Ice & Fire production. But you better hurry, it closes on August 13th.

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On The Record – It’s Me But It’s Not?

Posted: 07 Aug 2011 01:50 AM PDT

If you happen to be in London this week I will be speaking with the highly accomplished journalist Nick Davies (famous for breaking the recent phone hacking scandal in the UK) on Monday night after the showing of On The Record. It will be my first time to see actor Trevor White portray me on stage (so this could be a great chance to see what I look like when I am completely weirded out!) Ha!

Seriously though, the play has been getting amazing reviews and the subject matter is very interesting. I will post some reviews and the press release below, for those of you that are interested.

The playwrights, Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen contacted me in early 2009 and told me about their interest in writing a play, based in part on my experiences in Iraq. We spent hours on the phone in interviews for them to get the direct quotes from which the play is primarily based. I never knew if anything would come of the project and was happy to find out that not only did they see it through but apparently they did an amazing job with the production. I look forward to seeing it on Monday the 8th and if any of you are able to join, please stick around afterwards and say hello.

From the Producers:

Press:

The Times ‘This play by Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen is a tribute to the courage, compassion and tenacity of those who unearth and report stories of real significance, often at great personal risk. Partly based on interviews with journalists, and partly dramatised, it makes gripping theatre, in a production by Michael Longhurst that is at once succinct, shocking and wryly funny … Throughout, the acting is riveting, unflashy and full of conviction, while the stories the play tells are truly humbling.’The American photo-journalist Zoriah Miller (Trevor White) maintains that in the United States censorship is rife, thanks to the power of the advertising dollar. “Nobody wants to sell a watch opposite a picture of someone dying,” he says. His images of the Iraq war are devastating; he captures them in the face of pressure from editors who want something lighter.Financial Times ‘At a time when so much of the British press appears to have been involved in crimes and corruption rather than uncovering them, this is a sobering and heartening reminder of why journalism also matters in a positive way.

The Sunday Times ‘As the phone-hacking scandal rumbles on, this reminder that journalism and integrity need not be mutually exclusive is something of a pick-me-up … The production … compresses a lot into 90 minutes as it lays out why the practice of investigative journalism matters’

Guardian ‘These people are fierce, proud and hearteningly optimistic.

Telegraph ‘Was I impressed?…Yes”

The Public Review (4.5 Stars) : “The most impressive thing of all is how this play teeters along the line between candour and good taste, showing us horrifying video images to shake us out of our comfortable, democratic cocoon without needing to push so hard that it feels like shock tactics. I often had goosebumps, and at times a lump in my throat, but mostly I felt in awe, and with a desire to find out more”

Spectator ‘On the Record is ‘an excellent, timely and unsettling play … So many plays are just circus routines or museum pieces. This is a living, breathing piece of propaganda in the best sense. It jerks us from our complacency and argues, quietly but with overwhelming force, that liberal democracy is not inherent in any community’s gene code. It has to be replanted and refreshed by each new generation.’

Metro “Warm and Witty”

The Stage : “Human rights theatre company Ice and Fire’s well-timed celebration of investigative journalism is a refreshing contrast to the daily reports of indiscriminate phone hacking recently in the news.”

The British Theatre Guide: “The acting in On The Record is impeccable throughout. Each performer gives a small masterclass in acting …The script by Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen is well paced and informative”

The Public Review : “The most impressive thing of all is how this play teeters along the line between candour and good taste, showing us horrifying video images to shake us out of our comfortable, democratic cocoon without needing to push so hard that it feels like shock tactics. I often had goosebumps, and at times a lump in my throat, but mostly I felt in awe, and with a desire to find out more”

ReviewsGate: “Theatre at its best showing journalism at its best…Michael Longhurst’s direction is exemplary… leaving the floor to six fine actors who embody their characters’ different manners and inhabit their sense of purpose without any sense of forcing personality or pleading a case…Christine Bacon, Noah Birkstead-Breen and Ice and Fire theatre’s production ensure a gripping, revelatory event”.

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